Preschoolers

Mondays are usually my stay at home and clean the house day. Somehow the house blows apart over the weekend. I think it may have something to do with that "day of rest" we have over the weekend. Anyways, my preschoolers are left to find their own entertainment while I change sheets, wash clothes, and so on. Well this morning I started in my room and I know nothing that attracts small children that a newly made bed. I've been running them out of my room all morning trying to keep it neat in there, but to no avail. A few minutes ago I heard them in there again making all sorts of racket and yelling and when I went in, this is what I found.  When I asked them what they were doing, they said,

"We're watching the BYU game and we are cheering for the black team (I'm hoping they mean navy blue)," all the while giving fist pumps in the air. "Move mom!!! you're in the way, we can't see!"

I think the baseball caps are a nice touch. And I certainly know what they've been exposed too in the last couple of weeks. GO BYU!!!

Oh, and what you can't see are the baby dolls they've got hidden behind those big white pillows. I love their imaginations when they use them.

Power of Moms

As many of you know, I'm an ambassador for the Power of Moms. It's a website for deliberate mothers. Mothers who care about their job and look for ways to be better each day. The women behind it are amazing. I know, because I've met them all. I promise it's worth your while to check out the site. They have tons of articles that give you the boost and pick me up you might need each day.

We've just launched the new site and it is more accessible than ever, so please do me a favor and check it out. I would love to hear your feedback. Just click on the widget on the sidebar and enjoy yourself. I promise you will come away uplifted.

Oh, St. Patrick's Day!

Dear St. Patrick's Day,

I don't think I really like you. Nor do my children. You see we've never given you any attention before and we've been just fine here in our home. However, I got a wild idea and decided to teach my children about you this year and all of your mischief and magical people. We talked about leprachauns and their sneaky ways and if we catch one, we can get a wish. All of which was highly reinforced by Gabriela's Kindergarten teacher who set her own trap in the classroom. Gabriela came home singing songs and bringing home leprechauns of her own.

 Well here is what our leprechaun left us that night.

Gabriela was the first one up that morning and when I reminded her about the trap, she all of a sudden got a look of horror on her face and told me she was too afraid to check it. She peeked into the kitchen and said she saw footprints and told me to go look. I played along and eased her fears when I said he wasn't in the trap. She then came in and discovered the chocolate coins he left behind. All of which were consumed by the kids before breakfast.

Later she declared, "Mom, I know why he didn't mess up our rooms or our house...it's because it was already a mess!"   NICE, but she's probably right.

I guess at school during recess a leprechaun made his way into her classroom and messed up everything, turned the milk green, and created havoc all over.

So later on that week we had babysitting group at our house and all of the other children started talking about leprechauns and told Gabriela that they saw one in her room. Next thing we know she comes to us crying and shaking in fear that there really was something in her room. We've never taught our kids to fear and it was strange to see her so terrified. She truly believed in those little things and I don't think she had a friendly image in her mind. I tried to convince her that nothing was in the house, but she wasn't buying it, so I finally, against my gut instinct, had to tell her the truth. There are no real leprechauns. I felt like I was going to crush all of her other beliefs with this sinking ship. She looked at me strange, and said, "yes they are. What about the green milk, and the footprints?" I told her that Mommy and Papi were the leprechauns, and she said, "why would you do that?" I had to tell her it was all for fun, but that it was our secret and don't ruin the fun for all the other kids.
Even after our pep talk, she still wouldn't sleep in her own bed for a few nights.

So St. Patrick's Day...the heck with you. It wasn't that fun and we would rather love and celebrate Cinco de Mayo anyday.

Adios

Bless Her Heart

Julianne is 3 today!!!

But she's sick.

We celebrated her birthday yesterday with the family. We had everyone over for lunch and I made a cake for her, but she was just not feeling well. I felt so bad, because we had all been planning on going swimming for her birthday and she was so excited. All the kids were excited. But as the little party progressed she seemed to feel worse and worse. She would cry everytime she coughed, but that little champ smiled so good for every picture I made her take.

She managed to get through the cake and presents part o.k. (By the way, the cake was a disaster to make. Like I dropped the cake pan and busted it into pieces and I didn't have time to let it cool before trying to frost it, so it was just crumbling apart, but despite all of the frustration, it ended up looking o.k. Can't hit a home run everytime I guess.) Once we loaded everyone up to go to the pool, Julianne was crying in the back seat, and she just looked miserable. I decided that it just wasn't a good idea to take her, so we turned around and came home where I took her screaming into the house, while Miguel took the other kids swimming with the extended family.
Again, I felt so bad for her, and she screamed the entire time they were gone. She hates to be sick and doesn't cope well. She needed a nap so, so bad, but for the life of her couldn't settle herself down. She would go five minutes, drift off to sleep, cough, and start screaming hysterically again. After two hours of trying to get her to sleep, laying with her, rocking her, I gave up and took her downstairs with me to watch the BYU basketball game. All of a sudden she forgot she was miserable and completely changed her tune. She was singing the fight song, and pointing out players. Apparently all she needed was a distraction from her misery. She layed with me the rest of the game and took it easy and had an early bedtime, but who knew sports would sooth her soul.

We are going to take her swimming as soon as she's better.

We sure love the BABY BEAR and her sweet smile that warms the heart.

Celebrating a Birthday "FANCY NANCY" style

Yesterday was Gabriela's sixth birthday. We decided it would be fun to celebrate like Fancy Nancy, one of my girls favorite books. If you don't know her look her up. She's always dolled up in her dress ups and everything has to be fancy. She has curly hair, so we put everyones hair in sponge rollers the night before to get ready for the big day.

Gabriela had her usual birthday breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. But we made it fancy by pulling out the green goblets.

 Sophia's hair turned out perfect and I just kept admiring her cuteness all day!

 And here is the epitomy of Fancy Nancy herself. Don't you just want to squeeze her? I do!!! While Sophia was at preschool, Julianne and I went to Gabriela's class to do a demo on green smoothies. Her school has a welness policy so you can't bring cupcakes for your child's birthday, so we decided to teach them a healthy new habit. The kids loved it and drank it up beautifully along with the muffins I made. Julianne freaked out when we had to leave, but one last muffin seemed to settle her down in the car. Oh, and yes, she did wear that whole get up to the school.

 Once Gabriela got home, we started preparing for the big lunch date. In Fancy's book the kids get the adults dressed up and they go out to eat. Everyone thinks they are "movie stars!" So I got these crowns for the girls to decorate to go along with their ensembles.

 And here is the final product!!! Soooo Fancy!

 Grandma and Grandpa even came to celebrate with us. I think they missed the fancy memo, but that's o.k.

 Gabriela just gave Grandpa someone elses crown.

 I could eat this child alive, I'm telling you.

 Gabriela sat next too me and insisted that I eat every bite of my food with my pinky up like this.

 She even got an ice cream parfait at the end, just like Fancy, but she didn't drop hers on the ground, thank goodness. Oh, but trouble was abruing when she went to the bathroom and Julianne jumped in her chair and cleaned out the bowl. Let's just say, that didn't go over so well.

 We came home and opened the box that Gigi sent. They pulled out all kinds of wonderful clothes, but the immediate hit was the new princess gowns. They all looked beautiful and proceeded to dance around the living room to primary music.

(Is this not the atypical youngest child photo. We asked her to stand next to her sisters, but refused, but at the last second ran in front of them and did this. Miguel and I just laughed, while the other two were probably rolling thier eyes.)

 After naps and dinner, we finally made it to the cake and ice cream part of the day. We went with a small cake, because I'm making one for a family party for her and Julianne this weekend, but everyone needs a little cake on their birthday.

Little do these two know, they are getting a trampoline this weekend. They are going to be so excited!

So here is a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my BIG GIRL GABRIELA.

We sure love her and it has been so fun to watch her grow and learn and become a little lady.

A Change of Heart

We are all entitled to a change of heart, right? Because I've had a major change over the last couple of weeks. I'm about ten weeks from having this baby and I already had my c-section scheduled for May 10th, but my sister in law asked me if I had concidered trying to do a VBAC. She's asked me about this with my last two pregnancies too, and I usually just let it roll off my back with no concideration at all. No thanks, I'll just play it by the books and have repeat c-sections. I also went as far as telling myself this was the better way to go after all. I could pick the date, fly my mom in to help, and there were no surprises or waiting around, plus I got to shave off a week from my pregnancy. I was cool with it. After all, that's all I knew and my doctor's didn't seem to keen on the idea of VBAC anyways. I took their advice and went the safest, easiest route.

So this is how I greeted my new babies each time.

Sophia:

And Julianne:

But when my SIL mentioned it this time, I actually couldn't get it out of my head. I came home that night and started doing some research. Boy did that open up a can of worms. Maybe I was missing out on something. The fact that I didn't get to hold Julianne for several hours after my last surgery was a bummer, and the fact that the majority of the experience you are on your own. Miguel is never allowed to come into the OR until they are about to cut. All of the prep is done without him and then as soon as the baby is out he goes with the baby to the nursery and I'm there for another half and hour by myself. Kind of scary, but I just accepted it as the way it had to be.

After looking more at the stats, it seems that my chances of having a uterine rupture are very low. The stars have all seemed to allign, and prayers answered too, and I've been able to find the only doctor in the valley who will support a VBAC after multiple c-sections and he took me on as a patient. I've found a hospital that will allow me to do it and a very supportive doula,  who is an RN, who will help us.  (If you didn't know, attempting something like this is extrememly rare and those that do, resort to home births, which I'm not open to that. Doctors won't do it anymore for fear of lawsuits and hospitals quit allowing them after one c-section)

I'm hoping for a different experience. A more pleasant one, where I can enjoy the moment, have a much shorter and less painful recovery, and be back on my feet to take care of my family.

Wish us luck! We are going to need all the prayers and support we can get.

What you will remember

Often times I don't write down the crazy things my kids do that make them unique. I usually don't run grap the camera to capture those things either, because those moments are so fast and fleeting that I usually miss them if I try to capture it, but today as we sat around the table as a family attempting to eat lunch together, this is what I saw across the table. This is Julianne, and this is her infamous table manners. For some reason she has no attention span at the table and almost always lays down in her chair with her feet up in the air. I just looked over at Miguel and said, "this is what I will remember about her. I wish I could just capture it. " and he looked at me and for once in his life encouraged me to grap the camera. She had no idea that I even took these, as she was too busy locking and unlocking the extra leaf in the table. But I got it and it's those crazy little things that make my kids special to me.

Waiting for Spring

We are patiently awaiting the arrival of Spring around here. It's supposed to snow again next week. So to by our time, we've resorted to crafting and other nonsense. March is kind of busy month for us, with two birthdays and all, and we are trying to add in some St. Patrick's Day traditions. It's one of those holidays that has never been celebrated in our house before, but the girls are really excited about making a leprachaun trap this year. And we decided to make a holiday tree. I got the idea here. With a spot at $1 rack at Joanne's fabric store, we have completed our tree...finally! (we were going to decorate if for Valentine's Day, but it never happened and we've had this crazy thing floating around our house for a while)

 While we are waiting for warmer times, I've finally taken the innitiative to potty train Julianne. I have been dreading this like the plague. I would rather you cut my foot off than have to potty train. But, she has done surprisingly well and yesterday she pooped in the potty for the first time and stayed dry all day. That was as exciting as winning the lottery, let me tell ya. So here she is giving us a thumbs up while dissolving that yummy Hershey's Kiss in her mouth. No her teeth aren't natually brown.

 And group baths are happening a little more regularly. It's a little cramped in there. I don't know that the two little ones really like Gabriela in there with them, but what do you do?

Gotta love SISTERS!!!

Remember when I went to this?

Well I'm going again! Woo-hoo! Last summer, I went to a Power of Moms retreat down in St. George. This was such a good experience, with great women, and a great organization. If you haven't checked out the Power of Moms yet, then click on the tab on my sidebar and see what you've been missing.

On April 15 &16 they are hosting another retreat right here in our area and it is at Linda and Richard Eyre's home in Park City. It's going to be amazing. They always are. I know spots are filling up quick so act fast and check out the details here . If you want to come away feeling great about your job as a mom, if you want to get more organized, or just need a day or two away, then this is the thing for you. I'm really excited to learn from my favorite mentors, the Eyres. Anyways, COME WITH ME!!!

A week at a time...for now.

Wow, I would love to get on here and blog all the time. I am constantly thinking of things I would like to write about, but it's just never at a convient moment. So for now, we will have to cover a lot at one time. So here's what's been going on with us.

Last Saturday my dear friends in the neighborhood threw me a wonderful baby shower. I get so nervous about those things, because anytime I have home parties or things noone usually shows up, but it made me feel great when so many people came out to support me. I think baby brother is pretty set now. Thanks to everyone!

Gabriela has an obsession with the body. We are constantly having conversations about the body and how it works. She is particularly interested in her "eggs." A long time ago she came to me and told me she already had her babies inside of her, but that they were just teeny tiny and hadn't grown yet. That led me to tell her that she was kind of right and that she was born with little eggs inside her body and that someday when she was big and married, those little eggs would grow into babies.

Well she took that and ran with it. One day she was complaining about her leg hurting and told me it was her eggs in her leg. So I had to obviously have another discussion about where those tiny eggs are hiding and that they don't move. Anyways a long story short, she is constantly asking about the brain and the heart and how stuff works, so I finally checked out some awesome books from the library. You should have seen her face when she opened them up. She devoured them! I guess this is all good, because I'm sure we are going to have to have a lot of anatomy conversations when baby brother shows up. Yikes!

  Sophia is in a little rotating preschool here in the neighborhood and yesterday was my turn to teach. In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, we made our own Dr. Seuss fish after the book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I think the kids did a great job. I really do love teaching kids. Oh and Gabriela was home that day and joined in because she was out for parent teacher conferences. She actually said preschool was a little boring. I guess you can't please them all.

 Another big kick I'm on is whole foods. I posted a while back about the green smoothies and now I've been reading her book. I'm totally convinced that this is the way to go. I don't even crave high fat food anymore. I would be happy with simpler food and less processed stuff. The funny thing is, the kids love it! They come to me in the morning and ask for "healthy cereal." They are pleased as punch when they get to show how they eat their broccoli for dinner. They don't whine and gripe when at the store they ask for something and I don't buy it. All I have to say is that is not really healthy for us and they get it. It's awesome. Well today I went to the grocery store and when I checked out, I was so proud of myself and felt great. I came home with a bunch of greens and natural foods. More granola, almond milk, fruits and vegetables. It's a great feeling to know I'm feeding us a lot better. The oranges, bananas, and carrots are missing from this picture.

Lets see, what else, oh, I'm chewing on the idea of trying to have this baby the natural way. No wait, not natural as in I don't want drugs, but natural as in vaginal. Crazy I know, but after reading so much online and so many people's stories, I think it can be done. I'm crossing my fingers and toes I can find a doctor who will support me, but I at least want the chance to labor and see if I can do it. If it doesn't work out, well that's fine too. I was already signed up for surgery anyways, but I just don't want to heal from another surgery. It's emotionally challenging for me, becuase of all the demands at home. Anyways, stay tuned for more on that.

That about wraps things up around here. My kids still fight, my house is a mess, but we are doing well.